In the only thing more unexpected than Saturday Night Live’s “Potato Chip” sketch, Uproxx today unveiled a definitive oral history of the seven-year-old sketch, which sees Jason Sudeikis’s NASA interview go awry thanks to his decision to eat a single potato chip. (If that summary makes it sound weird, rest assured that the actual sketch is even weirder.) As Sudeikis revealed, his character’s Foghorn Leghorn-style voice actually came out of his thoughts for another sketch. “I had done that voice because I had ‘Maine Justice’ as an idea,” the actor revealed. “I had that character sort of floating around but no one had seen it.”
Sudeikis ended up reusing the voice once “Maine Jusice” actually made it on air three years later, which means that two of the weirdest sketches in modern SNL history are actually part of the same comedic universe. “[The ‘Potato Chip’ guy] is the same character from ‘Maine Justice,” Sudeikis confirmed. “That’s the same hemorrhoid donut. I’m a fan of the way Tarantino would have his universe closed in, like everyone smokes Red Apple Cigerettes.” Of course, this revelation has raised more questions than it answers. “He has a whole story of how the judge in ‘Maine Justice’ got fired from being a judge and then went to NASA,” says SNL writer John Solomon. “Or maybe he went to interview for NASA then became a judge?” Read the full history at Uproxx.
